May require a BIOS update

Rumor has it Intel will finally release its 14nm Broadwell desktop processors in the middle of next quarter (think somewhere around mid-May), so you still have some time to prepare for an upgrade or overhaul, if going that route. Wondering if your motherboard will support Broadwell? At least one company is making it easy -- Asus on Tuesday announced that all of its 9 Series motherboards support Intel's 5th Generation Core lineup.

Not your average PSU

Show of hands, how many of you are rocking a Cougar brand power supply? Or Cougar brand anything? Now put your hands down if you don't live in the U.S. We suspect there aren't that many left in the air, and that's something the German company is hoping to change through intriguing product releases. Cougar's newest item up for grabs is its CMD Digital Power Supply, and it's unique in a few different ways.

Adding physicality to gaming

One of the things that motion controllers have helped popularize is the fitness gaming category. We've seen it on consoles and the PC alike, and it's a trend that isn't going away. Just the opposite, there are new products coming out to make gaming even more physical. While at GDC, we stopped by to check one of them out -- the Realm resistance training controller, which is intended to make you forget you're getting a workout.

An Epic perspective on VR

Epic Games earlier this week announced that it was dropping its subscription fee to license Unreal Engine 4. Now instead of paying $19 per month on top of any applicable royalties, developers can dive in and get access to UE4's complete C++ source code hosted on GitHub. They can even make a little bit of pocket change without sharing the wealth -- up to $3,000. After that, a 5 percent royalty per quarter applies. Not a bad deal, and we caught up with Epic at GDC to talk about this and more.

A faster Chromebox

There are plenty of mini PC options in the Windows space, but does anyone remember that Chromeboxes exist? For those who care, Acer is expanding its Chromebox CXI line with a couple of new models that have been upgraded with Intel's 4th Generation Core i3 4030U dual-core processor clocked at 1.9GHz (3MB cache, Hyper Threading support, 15W TDP), a speedy replacement for the Celeron chips that power the existing models.

A new top-end GPU

It was speculated that Nvidia might announce a new Titan graphics card during GDC, and that's what the company did—in a somewhat dramatic fashion. It happened at the tail end of an Unreal Engine panel. As Epic founder Tim Sweeny wrapped up his discussion on the state of Unreal, Nvidia CEO Jen-Hsun Huang surprised attendees by emerging on stage to unveil the company's Titan X.

Drift PC console moves full Steam ahead

It's taken a lot longer than anticipated, but official Steam Machines are scheduled to release in November of this year, Valve announced at this year's Game Developers Conference (GDC). That means you can expect plenty of Steam Machine announcements, some of which have already started rolling in. One in particular is Maingear's Drift, an ultra-compact Steam Machine and gaming PC that you can pre-order today and have in your hands next month.

Ready, set, blitz!

Once the Game Developers Conference (GDC) comes to an end, attention will turn to PAX East, which takes place in Boston from March 6–8. That means even more product announcements, though some companies are too excited to wait. One of them is MSI, which is bringing an "arsenal of new gaming products" to PAX East, including its Z97A Gaming 6 motherboard and a pair of all-in-one PCs.

Bringing medical-grade technology to the consumer space

One of the running themes at the 2015 Game Developer Conference (GDC) is virtual reality, a space that's attracting an increasing number of players as the technology inches closer to becoming mainstream. One company to keep an eye on is MindMaze, makers of a prototype "neuro-goggle" headset that combines a potpourri of technologies, including augmented reality, virtual reality, motion capture, and even neurosensing.

Now with twice the GDDR5 memory

There were rumors earlier this year that 4GB versions of Nvidia's GeForce GTX 960 graphics card would show up in March, and it turns out they were right. EVGA has emerged as the first to cross into 4GB territory with its GeForce GTX 960 SuperSC graphics card announced today. Though it's a mid-range card, EVGA is promoting the benefit of higher texture qualities and better 4K resolution gaming performance with the added memory.